Fourteen Blackshear Elementary students and five Pierce County Middle School (PCMS) students placed in the 2011 Manufacturing Appreciation Week (MAW) Student Design Competition sponsored by Okefenokee Technical College.

Students in Mrs. Lisa Gillis’s GATE classes were asked to depict the importance of manufacturing to their lives and communities through a placemat design, while Mrs. Jane Callahan’s PCMS students were asked to depict the importance of manufacturing through a poster design.

Jenny Callahan (not shown), a Pierce County High School student, also competed in the MAW event. Her t-shirt design and initiative impressed local judges.

Winners from each area were presented prizes, and all participants were given a token gift for their hard work and creative efforts.

In addition, all entries from both schools were submitted to the state student design competition sponsored by the Technical College System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

The top three statewide winners in each category (placemat, poster, and t-shirt design) will be honored at the Governor’s Awards Luncheon April 28 at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta.

Manufacturing Appreciation Week was developed by the Technical College System of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Contest coordinators hope that as part of the contest process area children will research information on manufacturing and learn that a career in manufacturing can be so much more than assembly line work. “We want students to know that manufacturers provide jobs for engineers, scientists, advertisers and many others in our state.”